Shadows in their Eyes
by AnonymousCreep
Summary: Halloween is here! But this isn't just a night for cheap scares, tricks and treats. Pitch Black is at his strongest on this night, and deafeating him once again will not be easy. Beware...blood will run through the lit sidewalks.
1. All Hollow's Eve

October

The night was young, and the moon was out. He smiled down kindly at the world below him, watching the boys and girls as they readied themselves for their most important night of the month: Halloween. The Man in the Moon was glad to watch the children roam down the lit sidewalks, dressed as ghosts and witches and all manner of lighthearted spooks, but it was not only them that he was keeping an eye open for. This was Halloween after all; a night for scares and all manner of tricks and treats. This was also the night that _he_ would be strongest. It hadn't been long since he'd been put in his place, be it only temporary, unfortunately, but this night would surely give him the strength he needed. The Man in the Moon knew, dread filling every fiber of his glowing being, that Pitch Black would arise again.

Therefore, he saw it fit to warn the Guardians to keep a look out for the tyrant. North, as per usual, was the first to hear. He was working in his large office, when the yetis called for him. They rambled something about the Man wanting to speak with North. "Vat is it now?" he asked, grumbling as he stood from his desk. "I do not need the extra distractions now. Christmas vill be here in less than two months!" Following his large cohorts up the wooden lift and into the globe room, he stepped over the tiny elves dotting the floors and scrambling about. "Vat? Vat is going on?" he said, pushing towards the globe. The Man in the Moon shone his beam down into the room, lighting the floor gently, but urgently.

"Man in Moon? Ah, Manny. Vat goes on? I am in a bit of a hurry, in case you haven't noticed." North said warmly, but with equal urgency as the Moon, ready to get back to his toy making. After all, it was October! North listened for the voice, narrowing his eyes, and then sighing, rubbing the back of his head. "Ah, yes. I completely forgot. It is All Hollow's Eve, isn't it?" he exhaled again. "Very well. You vant us to keep guard for Pitch, no? Very...uh, very good. Indeed. I shall alert the others." This would cut into his time, trying to keep an eye open for the Boogeyman while he worked around the clock for Christmas. But the help from the others would help a little. "Shouldn't need to tell them though." North muttered. But it was best to remind them, should they have ended up like him, they may have forgotten that tonight was Halloween as well, being so caught up in their work.

"Phil!" North called his chief yeti to his side. They large gray beast approached, wiping his great hands on his thighs. He made a grunting noise in acknowledgement to North's call. "Take snow globe and tell other Guardians to stay sharp. Pitch will be at his strongest. Keep aware." Phil made another set of noises in yetish. _What about Jack Frost?_ It was safe to say that the young winter spirit was never an easy find. He endlessly roamed the planet, unfortunately having no home or place to return to. North frowned at the thought. "Is getting close to winter. Must be in Burgess, yes? Check there. If he's not there, then do not worry about it." he said, returning to the lift. He needed to get back to his office now. "And hurry back! Need everyone we can get! Is almost time for Christmas!"

**What a way to end the first chapter. -_- Don't worry it'll pick up.**

**-AC**


	2. Overcast

October

Phil made his rounds to the other Guardians; Sandman, Toothiana, and the Easter bunny; passing on North's message to them. They too had been so caught up in work that they had forgotten what night it was; Tooth as usual was working around the clock and on extra alert, since candy and cavities didn't go together, and Sandman was working by curfew since not every child was asleep. Phil never found Jack, even on his visit to Burgess to look for the younger Guardian. So he returned to the Workshop. Upon entering the portal, he wondered if he should turn back and look for Jack for a little bit longer, just to be sure the boy would be okay on his own for the night. _Jack's a tough boy. He'll be fine, _he thought finally. _And anyways, Pitch might not even show up tonight..._

Almost as if on cue, the Guardian of Fun, flew over the skies of Burgess, the wind carrying him carefully and fluidly so that he could watch the children run around in their costumes and buckets. He seemed to absorb their laughter, thrive off of it, and began to laugh a little himself. It was only natural for him. Jack dove down, slipping soundlessly through the branches of a tree next to the sidewalk, and landed softly on a branch close enough to the ground so that he could hear everything that anyone who passed underneath happened to say. Keeping his staff in the crook of his elbow and hands stuffed in his hoodies front pocket, he sat on the branch, leaning his back against the tall trunk.

Sure enough, some laughing children crossed under the branch; one girl dressed as a cliché witch in sneakers, and two boys dressed as a costume superhero and a lizard monster; all carrying buckets and bags in their hands.

Jack leaned forward a bit to peer inside their buckets as they neared and nearly fell off of the branch trying to see. The kid's buckets were full of candies in orange and black wrappers, festively packaged. "Let's go to the Mayfield house. I heard they give out candy apples!" one of the boys said. "Yeah, okay. Then I'm going home. It's getting too cold out here and I didn't bring my jacket." Jack raised a curious eyebrow. Grinning to himself, he tipped his staff towards the children and sent a cold breeze towards them. The sudden gust of chilly air knocked the witch's hat off of the girl's head, tossed the superhero's cape, and tilted the buckets in such a way that a few pieces of the children's candy fell out and onto the sidewalk.

The children hurried to collect their candy and moved on mumbling about 'the stupid wind'. Jack laughed, knowing they couldn't hear him, when something caught his eye near the grass in the shadowed part of the walkway. He gently dropped from the branch and picked up the candy that had somehow made its way over there. Jack brushed the little blades of grass that spotted the wrapper, and inspected the label. The picture on the wrapper suggested chocolate. Jack couldn't remember the last time he's eaten candy before. Of course, he didn't really remember everything from his life before he became Jack Frost, but not once did the memory a bite of sugary junk register itself in his head.

Shrugging, Jack opened the wrapper, and carefully peeled the brown covering from around the chocolate cup. Biting into it, he recognized the first taste on his tongue as chocolate. Whether it was milk or dark, he couldn't tell; he didn't remember either of those flavors.

The next taste was peanut butter, which he decided he didn't like very much because it was so dry and left him parched. He threw away the candy and went off in search of another agenda.

Jack found himself at the front lawn of the Bennet house, wondering if Jamie and Sophie were home. He hadn't asked his first believer what he was doing for Halloween; he hadn't had the chance to come see him yet. Now, he floated to Jamie's bedroom window and looked inside. There was the brown headed boy, helping his little sister into a set of plastic fairy wings covering in glitter. Jack smiled and tapped on the glass. Jamie looked up and nudged Sophie. "Jack! You're here!" Jamie said, opening the window and letting the winter spirit inside. "Course I'm here. It's almost winter." Jack regarded Jamie's pirate costume and asked, "You guys are going trick or treating too?" Sophie jumped up and down, bouncing in her little pink dress and wings. The little silver tiara on her head nearly fell off. "I'm the tooth fairy! Blood and gums!"

Jack laughed so hard that he nearly fell off of the windowsill. Sophie remembered exactly what the real Tooth Fairy had told her a few months earlier when she showed the little girl the teeth in the Warren. He would definitely have to remember to tell Tooth. Jamie shrugged with his snaggletoothed smile. "She wanted to be the Tooth Fairy." Sophie continued to smile and laugh, clutching her little plastic wand in one hand and her trick or treating bucket in the other. From another room, Mrs. Bennet called, "It's almost time for fairies and pirates to go trick or treating! Last minute checks everyone!" Jamie called back to her, and then turned excitedly to Jack. "You'll come trick or treating with us, right? I mean, we'll get lots of great candy and Mom always lets us eat some of it before bed. It'll be fun!"

Sophie chimed in, "Fun, fun!" Jamie rolled his eyes. "She should've been a parrot." Jack smoothed the little girl's wild blonde hair down and placed her tiara back on her head. "Nah, she's pretty cute as the tooth fairy." Sophie began bouncing again and the tiara threatened to fall off once more. Jack sighed with a smile. "I've got nothing else to do...I'll meet you two outside." He said, and disappeared out the window.

Watching the world through golden eyes, a tall thing, a figure in the shape of a human stood on the top of an unlit building. But it was most certainly not a human; far from it. His skin was an unhealthy gray, and his eyes were deep and sunken in. He stared up at the sky and inhaled, breathing like it was the first breath of fresh air he'd savored in quite a long time. It probably was; he'd been in a hole fighting for his life for the past few months. He smiled weakly. "Ahhh..." he exhaled. "A night of fear, all across the world. Finally, the night that celebrates the fear of humanity. A night that celebrates me." He laughed softly. "It's almost sweet. But," he looked at the moon in the sky. "It's not the time for all that. It is time for me to regain myself. This is the night that the world will be cloaked in darkness."

The figure raised his arms and the glow of the moon began to dwindle. The Man in the moon struggled to shine his beams through the black clouds beginning to cover his protective view. "And the best part? They won't even realize it."

**Sorry, it's kind of short. In which Jack goes trick or treating and Pitch returns.**

**-AC**


	3. To Drown in Fear

October

Jack sat on the top branch of the old tree in Jamie's front lawn, still savoring the taste of the candy lollipop in his mouth. Jamie had given it to him after he'd accompanied him, Sophie, and the other neighborhood friends of the siblings trick or treating. The red candy stained his lips a tint of red, vaguely noticeable. Jack liked this candy much more than the peanut butter and chocolate. Looking up at the sky, he realized that he could not see the glow of the moon. "That's odd...it's not new moon tonight is it?" Jack tried to think back to earlier in the night, searching his thoughts for the reassurance of the moon.

Yes. Yes, the Man in the Moon had been there.

But where was he now? It was too dark. It seemed like the world was simply too dark; the clouds in the sky were barely outlined, just thin lines against black slate. Something was wrong, and Jack knew it. He called the winds to carry him to the Pole.

Phil was the first to catch Jack at the Pole. Jack greeted the furry yeti with a smile as he entered the globe room and said, "Hey, Phil. Long time, no see?" Phil said something in yetish, and since Jack could decipher the language fluidly; speaking it however, was an entirely different means all together; Jack answered back, "Yeah, yeah, I know. Don't you think I know that you're busy?" Phil sighed, rolled his eyes and placed his great fists against his furry hips. _Alright, since we're on the same page; what do you want? _

"Wondering if the Moon said anything here?" Jack said, shrugging. Phil frowned. _Actually, no. We haven't bothered to check. Unlike some people, we've been busy! Why do you ask? Have you heard something?_ Jack shouldered his staff. "No. That's the thing. The moon was out earlier, wasn't it?" Phil nodded. _No worries. The clouds probably just covered him. _Jack turned back and looked at the sky. It was still too dark for comfort. "I don't think those are clouds, buddy. What-what if something happened?" His cerulean eyes held a hidden terror in his eyes. Suddenly Phil's eyes lit up. _Oh! The Man in the Moon did say something! I almost forgot, having to come look for you and all,_ the yeti cast the young spirit an annoyed glance, _and I never found you to tell you. The Man warned that Pitch Black may resurface tonight. It's Halloween, after all. _

Jack leaned on his staff. How could he have forgotten? It had only been a few months since he had seen the Nightmare King retreat. "Oh right. How did I not see that coming?"

_Maybe it was because you were being a nomadic trickster and didn't notice it. _Phil offered sarcastically. Jack gave him a sideways glance. Phil lifted his hands and shrugged. _Just saying_. "Yeah, well...I'll give it a glance. I'll check up on these 'maybe clouds' and then go look and see if the hole Pitch went down has reopened. Then we'll know if Pitch has already made it up, or if he's still too weak." Jack said. Phil gave him a look. _It's Halloween. If Pitch feeds off of fear, do you honestly think he's too weak?_ Phil's eyes turned soft, sympathetic towards the youngest Guardian. _At least take someone with you. I'm sure I can get North to accompany you. Just in case_. He didn't want to see him hurt if he was wrong about Pitch's resurrection.

But Jack waved him off. "I'm not going to fight the guy. I'm just going to check out those 'clouds'. There's nothing wrong with that is there?" The winter spirit had flown out of the room, before the yeti could reply.

Jack flew higher into the air, ready to pierce the black clouds. It looked more like the bottom of a thunderhead just before a big storm. He hoped that was all it was... Flying through the mass of black, he lost sight of everything. His eyes were full of nothing, and for a moment, Jack feared that he had passed out from flying too high into the atmosphere. But the clouds-no.

Not clouds. Sand? Jack sputtered, coughed, tried to open his eyes to no avail. The stuff, whatever it was, was warm and...something about it wormed its way into Jack's head, made him panic. It was quiet, leaving him with his thoughts, which began whispering to him, ever quietly. And then there was screaming.

"_We never should have trusted him!"_

"_How could you?"_

Jack didn't know where the voices or thoughts came from. They were familiar, made him panicked, and he struggled to breathe. The black crammed itself down his throat, making him choke. He had to get out of here...he had to...

It felt like he'd done this before. The temperature dropped. The stuff was free flowing around his legs, cold, loose. Daring to open his eyes, he saw a thin sliver of what could be...light?

He was drowning.

Like in the lake...

There was one thought in Jack's head: "No...not again."

Jack thrust his pale arm out of the black, managing to pull his head out of the nonexistent water. He coughed, his stomach flipping, heart pounding against his ribs, making his chest squeeze. Hoisting himself out of the black substance, he laid on his side, trying to calm his heart, his breath shaky. The substance had left him so drained, and he was exhausted now. He could barely hear the screams now, but he knew they were still there in the back of his head. _"You're nothing."_

"_But they don't believe in you, do they?"_

"_What have you done?"_

Jack hugged his arms around his wiry frame. That...that was no cloud. That was horrible. Completely horrible. "_I was going to die." _Jack thought. He closed his eyes and tried to breathe again. "Well, well." A voice as dark and cold as the waters Jack had just fought his way out of sounded from behind the shaking boy. Jack rolled over weakly, still trying to collect himself. A tall gray man stood over him, arms clasped behind his back, a crooked smile on his face. "What an unexpected surprise. I didn't set this up thinking Jack Frost would suddenly appear on my doorstep." He said with a laugh. Jack's blue eyes widened.

"How'd you like my little show? I didn't intend it just for you personally, but it'll do in a pinch." Jack didn't answer the man. "Aw, come on, now Jack. What's a Guardian of Joy and Fun if he doesn't crack a few jokes and indulge once in a while? Where is your playful banter? No warm welcome?" The man leaned down, towering over Jack despite his closeness. He inspected the winter spirit's eyes. "Where's the cheery glimmer?" the man asked, regarding the weary cerulean blue eyes that stared back at him, wide.

"All I can see is fear."

**-AC**


	4. To Disappear in Fear

October

Jack rolled onto his side, grimacing, and the tall grey man said, feigning concern, "Oh, Jack, are you all right? You didn't hurt yourself in the cloud did you?" Maybe it was simply a figure of speech, or for lack of better word, but had Pitch really called that mass of darkness a cloud? "Oh. Is that what that is?" Jack panted. God, he was tired. "A cloud?"

Pitch shrugged. "Mm, no. Not really. It's more like...a wave of _fear_." Jack's eyes widened. Pitch smiled, his crooked teeth glinting coldly. "I see you understand how terrifying this is." He said, waving his hand over the wave. "I collected this fear from all over the world. It's amazing how one night can turn the world over to complete darkness. Don't you think? All of this fear is the fear of children all over the world, from every single one of them. Even," Pitch leaned down and met Jack's eyes, "the children like you."

Jack swallowed. He couldn't deny how terrified he was. Pitch had collected this much fear? Halloween night wasn't even half over! "What's wrong, Jack? You look a little fatigued." Pitch reached out a slender hand and brushed his fingers across Jack's forehead. "You're sweating a little." He shook out his hand. "It's freezing, though." As if it was Jack's fault his sweat was practically ice water. Jack gripped his crook and tried to push himself up to his feet. "You're looking well." He said, trying to plaster a small grin on his face. He was already a shade whiter than he usually was. "Considering the last time I saw you, you were running for your life into that dank hole with your own nightmares chasing after you." Jack comically tilted his head and pretended to peer upwards to see inside Pitch's mouth, which was curled back into a snarl. "And missing a canine, courtesy of Tooth."

Pitch snorted. "Nice to see your jaunty nature has returned. I can't say that I missed it." Jack didn't have time to react to the foot driving sharply into his ribs. He crumpled to his feet, trying to suck in needed gasps of air. "Did you miss _me_ though?" Pitch said, haunting over Jack. Jack managed to tip his staff and send a blast of ice at Pitch, point blank. A wall of sand shielded the Nightmare King, freezing and shattering once its job was done. Pitch reached down and ripped the staff out of the younger Guardian's hand. Jack barely put up a fight.

Pitch spun it in his hand; the fern like frost decorations that adorned the wood was gone once the staff was in his possession. "I heard that you drowned before you became a Guardian. I could sense your fear; that's what told me that you could've been what I needed to have the world in my grasp. But as usual, you proved to be a disappointment." He grinned down at Jack and roughly planted his foot against the boy's chest, pinning him to the ground. "You stayed under the ice for months, Jack. You must have iron lungs to survive under the water for that long. Are you good at holding your breath?" Pitch raised the staff, crook side down, poised over Jack's throat. "Let me see."

The wood bit unforgiving into Jack's throat, pressing down so roughly that it hurt, pain burning in the winter's spirits trachea. He could barely give a strangled cry, as his hands struggled to find their way to the wood, trying to lift the pressure. Pitch leaned into the staff, pressing the staff harder and harder into Jack's throat. Now he was panicking. His vision swam, and his last bit of adrenaline surged through his limbs, resulting in a helpless spasm. Pitch was really going to kill him. He was going to win.

"You're not doing a very good job of holding your breath." Pitch frowned. He watched the boy, his pale face draining of color, and the cerulean eyes slowly closing. "What a disappointment." He sighed. "As per usual nowadays. Oh well." He pulled the crook away from Jack's neck. The moment he did, Jack was coughing and curling in on himself. He lay, trying to retrain his lungs to live, but his body would have to do it without his full attention present; he was already losing consciousness. "Well," Pitch said, his voice distorted and far away, "since you appear to be horrible at holding your breath, let's try something else that I know you're good at."

Pitch opened Jack's palm, replaced the staff into his hands, and closed his fingers around it. "Flying." Jack tried to will his body to stay conscious, but it was over; there was no adrenaline to keep him functional enough to at least get safely to the ground. He was shutting down. He could hear Pitch's muffled laughing somewhere near him, but his eyes had already closed, and he could feel the ground opening up below. "Fly, Jack. Fly."

The wind sliced through Jack's skin, trying to keep him aloft, but he was falling too quickly through the open air. The staff threatened to slip from his grasp. The winds began roughly knocking Jack through the air, hitting turbulence in a desperate attempt to wake him up. Jack slowly opened his eyes, unable to open them fully because of the strong wind, but even still, seeing the dead leaf littered floor of a forest coming at him at high speed. Suddenly, he was wide awake, and in a panic. The winds, imitating his literally senseless notions, sent him cascading to the sharp left, slowing his fall considerably. However, the trees were before Jack, before he could slow enough to land safely, and he crashed over the tops of them, breaking branches, twisting him in the air. Falling through the mass of wooden trunks in a dive-bomb fashion, Jack struggled to regain a safe flight, at least enough to reach the ground.

And suddenly, something hard connected with Jack's head, making him drop like a stone, the wind unable to save him, or cushion his fall. Jack landed on the leaf covered ground, the impact of his body hitting the forest floor sending dead brush flying in all directions. Then they gently cascaded down, settling over the young Guardian's unmoving body, as if to keep him hidden forever.


	5. Found

October

Phil looked into the dark sky, his furry brow furrowed in thought. Maybe Jack had been right; maybe something had been wrong about the Moon, and now that Phil thought about it, the sky_ was_ darker than usual... The yeti thought of getting North and inquiring about the strange sky. That, and Jack hadn't returned. He was usually very quick about these types of things, running off to go send a snow day to the children of the world and then returning to cause mischief among the elves, enjoying nothing more than terrorizing the cookie-toting creatures. He should've been back at the Workshop by now, definitely... Phil finally shrugged, waving it off to go and busy himself with preparing for the Christmas deadline. But still, as he proceeded to pick up his paintbrush to begin carefully painting a set of wooden building blocks, the thought of the young winter spirit he had come to love thrashed in the back of his mind, as if something were amiss...

Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia

If there was ever a spirit of luck (there is; you probably know him as the Leprechaun), then Jack would need to be sure to thank him.

A grey-blue blur had been racing under the ground, rocketing through his tunnels, ears bent back in the speed that he carried, green eyes alert, when he felt a sickening tremor hit the cold ground above him as he passed under. He skidded to a halt, wondering what the noise was. "Some poor bloke must've fallen." He mumbled to himself. "Tripped runnin' after some Hallows Eve candy." Pressing a paw to the ground above him in the tunnel, he felt for the small spot of warmth that humans usually gave off, but there was none. Confused, he tapped his foot and poked head out of the tunnel, tall ears first, then his piercing green eyes. Surveying the land, his trained eyes picked out a figure in the darkness, almost a foot away from him, lying face down on the ground, covered in dead brush.

The woodsy, damp smell that he knew so well, and associated with one person in particular, hit him in the nose like bricks. Panic making his fur stand on end, Bunnymund jumped out the hole and crossed in two hurried steps to the figure, kneeling down and brushing away the leaves. "Oh...oh no." He pulled the cold body into his arms, trying to find a pulse, but abandoning the notion when he remembered that Jack didn't have a heartbeat anymore. "Oh no, no, no, no...Jack? Jack! Frostbite, can you hear me?" Supporting his head in one paw, he felt something wet and slick coating his fur. The smell, salty and fearful, rose to Bunnymund's nostrils, and almost made him convulse out of panic.

Blood.

Bunny wasted no time in opening a hole in the forest ground and scampering through into the tunnels, making a mad dash for the Workshop at the North Pole.

Phil was just as shocked as North to find Bunny rushing into the workshop, eyes wide and horrified, and even more so when they discovered Jack's broken figure in Bunny's arms, blood all over the pooka's arms. _What happened to him?_ Phil bellowed, unable to keep a quiet voice in the midst of his panic. "I dunno." Bunny said, his voice high. "I found him on the ground in Russia. He was unconscious, and he's bleeding from the head..." Bunny tried to keep a cool, level head as best as he could, but he was failing miserably, almost forgetting that North and Phil were there to help as he nearly fought them handing Jack over. "Is alright, Bunny. Phil will take good care of Jack. Do not worry." North said, doing a better job of keeping calm than the rabbit. Phil cradled the young winter spirit in his arms as he barked orders at some other yetis, which stood close waiting for instructions. As he tromped through the halls, following his cohorts to an unoccupied room where they could set up a makeshift infirmary for Jack, Phil cursed himself silently, chastising himself for not following his instincts and sending North out with the boy.

Jack's head was cut wide and deep in the back, staining his white hair a sickening red. It wasn't lacerated, but it was in desperate need of stitches. His back was a massive black bruise, stark contrast against the white of his skin (more than likely from hitting the tree with such impact). One ankle was knocked out of commission, and had to be reconnected into his socket. The damage to the young winter spirit was bad, but repairable, and Bunny was there for most of it, his face melancholy and brooding. He helped North move Jack onto his side and into a suitable position to treat the head wound. While North carefully stitched Jack's cut, Bunny gently nosed the boy's forehead, his warmth breathing quietly tossing his bangs.

Bunny tapered the ankle, and bandaged Jack around his chest and back to accommodate the bruise. While North took the blue hoodie that Jack always wore, Bunny refused to leave his side. North glanced at the pooka and said, "Tooth'll be over soon. You should make way; you know she will be like a blizzard trying to get in to see Jack." Bunny didn't answer. North frowned.

Outside the room, Phil had been waiting for North, who said, "Phil! Vat are you doing? Christmas vill be here soon! No time to stand around!"

_I should've stopped him._ Phil rumbled. "Vat are you talking about?" North inquired, raising a questioning eyebrow. _He ran off and I didn't stop him. I don't know what happened, but he would've been safer if I had gone with him. I should've... _North stopped the yeti, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Jack vill be fine. Do not vorry." Phil looked pleadingly at North. _He went to the clouds._

**_Sorry this was so short. But don't worry; I promsie the others will be longer. I'm just busy all the time, so I can't be expected to crank out the chapters rapid-fire; I do have homework to attend to. :)_**

**_-Thanks, AC_**


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